Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog

Ars Nova Workshop is thrilled to present the visionary, politically pointed post-fusion trio Ceramic Dog, comprising guitarist/songwriter/activist Marc Ribot, bassist Shahzad Ismaily, and drummer/percussionist Ches Smith, at Solar Myth on January 4. 

On their latest album, Connection, Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog have pushed their long-brewing tension between traditional pop songcraft and avant-garde improvisational music to the breaking point, bridging their customary genre-agnostic approach with elements of glam boogie, minimalist disco, psychedelic boogaloo, garage-punk-against-the-machine agitprop, and so much more. Ribot has enjoyed a notorious career as both outsider and icon, his prodigious, impossible-to-categorize body of work as bandleader and musician spanning no wave and jazz, Brazilian and Cuban music, roots and avant-garde and protest songs (often at the same time) alongside legendary collaborations with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, The Lounge Lizards, John Zorn, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Caetano Veloso, and Laurie Anderson (to name but a few). Ceramic Dog, which unites him with the genre-obliterating talents of drummer Ches Smith and bassist Shahzad Ismaily, is the primary vessel for his distinctive stream-of-consciousness songwriting and his zeitgeist-busting sound and vision.